Injection molded component

Abstract

An injection molded component has a functional portion and a quality control portion. The quality control portion comprises a set of protrusions which are adapted to distort visibly in response to injection molding shrinkage, thereby to enable visual quality control inspection.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. An injection molded component, comprising:
 a functional portion; and 
 a quality control portion, 
 wherein the quality control portion comprises at least one protrusion which is adapted to distort visibly in response to injection molding shrinkage, thereby to enable visual quality control inspection; 
 wherein the at least one protrusion comprises a set of protrusions of different susceptibility to deformation in response to injection molding shrinkage. 
 
     
     
       2. A component as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the functional portion has a smooth surface. 
     
     
       3. A component as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the functional portion comprises a lens element. 
     
     
       4. A component as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the functional portion comprises an array of lens elements. 
     
     
       5. A component as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the set of protrusions comprises protrusions each of different size. 
     
     
       6. A component as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the set of protrusions comprises at least 3 different protrusions of the same height but different thickness, for example 5 different protrusion designs of the same height but different thickness. 
     
     
       7. A component as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the different thicknesses each lie in the range 0.1 mm to 1.0 mm. 
     
     
       8. A component as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the set of protrusions comprises at least 2 different protrusions of the same thickness but different heights. 
     
     
       9. A component as claimed in  claim 8 , wherein the different heights each lie in the range 1 mm to 5 mm. 
     
     
       10. A component as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one protrusion comprises a column with circular or rectangular cross section, in a plane perpendicular to a column height direction. 
     
     
       11. A component as claimed in  claim 1  having an area greater than 100 cm 2 . 
     
     
       12. A component as claimed in  claim 1 , comprising a lens plate for beam shaping LED light. 
     
     
       13. A luminaire comprising a housing, a LED light source arrangement mounted in the housing, and a lens plate for beam shaping of the LED light source arrangement light output, the lens plate comprising a component as claimed in  claim 12 . 
     
     
       14. An injection molding method, comprising using an injection mold to form a component having:
 a functional portion; and 
 a quality control portion, 
 wherein the quality control portion comprises at least one protrusion which is adapted to distort visibly in response to injection molding shrinkage, thereby to enable visual quality control inspection; wherein the at least one protrusion comprises a set of protrusions of different susceptibility to deformation in response to injection molding shrinkage.